NEBULA TO MAN 
And faced by cold that still vast breadths commands, 
With faltering steps come growths from other lands. 
But northern life that southward far had ranged, 
Turns face again, amidst conditions changed. 
And arctic birch and willow back are pressing, 25 
And, with some hardy mosses, repossessing 
Relinquished scenes ; and water-loving plants, 
Long driven south, are seeking ancient haunts. 
And as time runs, oak, alder, pine, and fir, 
Lime, maple, hornbeam, poplar, juniper, 30 
And other growths, that long had banished been, 
From south return, and claim the steppe-like scene. 
Musk-oxen to old pastures now are wending, 
And reindeer track the mosses north extending. 
Rhinoceroses, warm in " woolly " skins, 35 
And hairy mammoths wander wide the scenes. 
Wolves, bears, and badgers, as retreats the cold, 
Push on to haunts, where thrived their sires of old. 
And numerous other life, long kept at bay 
By hostile clime, has northward made its way. 40 
Elephants now breathe again Europa's air ; 
Though mastodons, that once had thriven here, 
Return no more. (Indeed it seems as they 
From every " old world " scene had passed away.) 
Rivers again, when summer heats run high, 45 
Are far explored by hippoptami. 
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